This week on Wednesday 3 October in the afternoon, a hugely important debate will take place in Strasburg in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The Parliament will discuss whether to keep or discard the concept of "political prisoner" when they vote on a report by German Social Democrat Christoph Straesser, Special Rapporteur on political prisoners, on "The definition of political prisoners".

To show what is at stake – and why the eyes of all those who care about European standards of democracy should be on Strasburg this week – we have produced the following political fable. It illustrates Azerbaijan's latest attempt to undermine the credibility of the Council of Europe: Ilham the Magician and the Council of Europe

This picture story can best be viewed – and easily shared – on the ESI Facebook page (or as part of this newsletter: see below). It takes 5 minutes to read.

We will also provide an update on the debate in PACE on the ESI Facebook page later this week.

Return to Europe series: Croatia and Moldova

The oil of Moldova: grapes – ESI research team in Central Moldova

The Return to Europe television documentary series, an initiative of ERSTE Stiftung in cooperation with ESI, continues with two new films to be broadcast, first in German, in October. A press conference and public viewing of the first film, "Twilight of Heroes – Croatia, Europe and the International Tribunal", will be held in Vienna on 10 October. If you are around and interested please join us!

As always we look forward to your feedback,

Gerald Knaus

Ilham the Magician and the Council of Europe

A Fable in 35 Acts that can be read in 5 minutes!

It must be the most classic magician's trick of all time: to pull a white rabbit out of a hat.

Ilham, the Magician from Baku, will try this week to pull off an altogether less common trick.

This is the stage where Ilham will try to work his magic: the grand theatre of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Ilham does not even need to appear in person: his friends in PACE will help him solve once and for all the problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

To understand why this is so important we must go back to once upon a time, to Heydar, the father and magic arts teacher of Ilham.

Heydar managed to bewitch the members of PACE in January 2001 into letting Azerbaijan join their assembly.

…he asked a respected group of international lawyers to help investigate allegations concerning political prisoners in Azerbaijan. One was the eminent Swiss lawyer and judge Stefan Trechsel. His first step was…

…an obvious one: to produce a clear DEFINITION of 'political prisoner'. After all, to identify white rabbits one must know what the word "white rabbit" refers to.

So in March 2009, after a gap of four years, PACE appointed the German Social Democrat Christoph Straesser to get back on the case of Azerbaijan's political prisoners.

But Ilham the Magician had another trick up his sleeve. He now argued that nobody knew what the term 'political prisoner' really meant.

And since "political prisoner" was a meaningless concept, like superfragilisticexpialidocious or Ubbi Dubbi, Ilham decided that there was really nothing for Straesser to investigate. So he was denied a visa for three years.

Even a good magician needs an assistant. Ilham had several. To help him bamboozle PACE, Ilham recruited a network of supporters. People like the British MP Mike Hancock, who argued tirelessly for the non-existence of political prisoners and other white rabbits.

Or Eduard Lintner (Germany), the influential head of PACE's committee on legal affairs and human rights. On leaving PACE, Lintner magically reappeared to work as a lobbyist for Ilham and his friends.

Or Mevlut Cavusoglu (Turkey), president of PACE from 2010 to 2012, who argued in June 2005, on the issue of political prisoners, that Azerbaijan had fulfilled "that thorny and complicated commitment, so the issue should be considered closed from now on."

With a cunning sleight of hand, Ilham magically transformed the once-critical monitoring committee rapporteurs into apologists for the Baku regime. People like Joseph Debono Grech (Malta) …

Despite the difficulties he faced Straesser was able to detail 89 cases of alleged political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

These include people like Vidadi Iskenderov, a human rights defender and a former parliamentary candidate. Arrested in April 2011 for participating in a peaceful protest, later charged with putting pressure on voters and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Here is Ilham's trick up close: the white rabbit is the definition of a political prisoner…

This Wednesday afternoon in PACE, as the drums roll and the lights are dimmed, Ilham will try to make the white rabbit disappear.

This is the trick in all its elegant simplicity: No definition, no political prisoners, no problem.

All it takes is for enough of Ilham's friends to turn up at PACE this Wednesday at 16:30 (and to remain there until 18:30). Not surprisingly, a record attendance is expected.

'If this is how PACE works, I really ought to be a member soon,' thinks Lukashenko from Belarus with barely concealed envy. Imagine how much Ilham the Magician would be admired by other authoritarian leaders in Eastern Europe if he pulls off his latest trick!

But will the trick work? Will the majority of PACE members accept the disappearance of the definition, in plain daylight, this Wednesday afternoon? Perhaps. But it's not just the rabbit that would disappear…

With the definition of political prisoner gone, it will be very hard to get it back again. And the Council of Europe's moral authority will disappear alongside it.

Other things might also disappear in the future: like this dissident and critical blogger, Zaur Qurbanli, who last week was picked up by special forces in Baku and disappeared for a few days.

His crime? He dared suggest that two terms as President might be enough for Ilham Aliyev. When Qurbanli reappeared he was charged with resisting the police and detained …

In fact, all it takes for PACE to save its reputation and the legacy of more than a decade of work on political prisoners in Azerbaijan is to back the resolution which will be voted on this Wednesday afternoon.